Thursday, December 23, 2010

Reid has had all sorts of developmental growths of late...his speech is totally blossoming, he counts to 3 without going 1, 2, 5, 2, 1, he spots every stop sign known to man kind and signs it with his little hands (quite aggressively, it's rather funny) and then proudly shouts out "stop" for all to hear, he can kind of say Merry Christmas ..."May Mismas" is close enough in my book...although sometimes I think it gets him a little tongue tied and the other day he decided to say "Happy Birthday" instead as he swung open our front door to come inside....again, close enough in my book. ;)

However....today I highlight a different sort of developmental growth... the terrible 2 or 3 thingy where they want to dress themselves without help. I am not complaining mind you...I like that Reid wants to do things by himself, and I like that he has his own opinions about what he wants to wear.... I only wish his pick had not been last year's Christmas sweater that never made it to the attic that is a bit too snug, too small, and too short.... the jeans I am a-okay with but we need to work on which way they need to go on his little body, however this particular day was a very stubborn day and no sort of assistance from mom was to be had, none...period. He then thought a summer hat which you can find in his hand would accent the ensemble just right.

Again....even all of this is okay by me, my little boy is growing up.... Yay, for you Reid Maddux!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Today has been rainy, actually the whole weekend has been and by California standards that means "Storm Watch" are the big words on the news around here ;). I love the rain, it's dramatic and soothing and slows everything down and forces you to be indoors and settle your horses down for awhile. I like slowing down and I often need to be forced to do it...so thank you rain for pitter pattering all day on my roof and windows and helping me to take a deep breath.

However, those soothing, calming deep breaths keep getting interrupted by my Luke who very innocently keeps announcing how many days left we have before Christmas and then the pant and sputter and hyperventilating breathing begins again...sigh, Christmas can be stressful for a parent! ;) I just bought two last minute gifts for Luke, an MIT t-shirt and a penguin Pillow Pet. A true dichotomy of sorts but both totally fit his personality.

Last night Reid met Santa for the first time. We have friends who host an annual Christmas party (same friends who hostedThe Reece's Rainbow Benefit partythat post can be found here) and Santa comes to visit with a list of the children's names and a wrapped gift for each one. Reid's eyes grew HUGE when Santa arrived. We saw him then break into some of his gestures from a Santa Christmas song he sang at his preschool program...side note: that was a seriously big cognitive connection, yay for Reid! There was another little girl there Reid's age who sat her little self right next to Reid and then proceeded to stare him down... like seriously staring at him and now it makes me giggle because I think she was just trying to look through his glasses which are pretty darn thick to spy his eyeballs. At any rate next thing I knew she slipped her little hand into Reid's and the two of them sat there watching Santa together....two strangers, yet by "preschooler standards" pals none-the less!

Okay....so on to what this blog title suggests...

With Christmastime comes school performances. Reid got to wear a little garland angel halo in his Christmas performance at preschool Friday. He walked onto stage with it and kept wiggling his little head so the stars on it would move about... he cracks me up. Reid was the assertive clapper in the bunch...he might not have known all the words in each song but after each one he took his clapping very seriously...if you watch the video he was the last one to finish clapping...that's how he was with each and every song :)

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

About Me

I am blessed to be married to an incredibly loving and kindhearted man, Toby, and I am a mom to 2 boys...I am in the chapter of my life that involves baseball games, homework, playdates, diapers, and dump trucks. It is simply the best! With every part of my being I love being "Mom" and have learned the depth at which my heart can go when our youngest son was born with Down syndrome. This blog was created to connect with other families on this same journey that an extra 21st chromosome presents. Join me as I journal about Down syndrome, life, and raising Reid and his big brother Luke.